1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and device for arranging a sprinkling material on a dough piece. The invention relates particularly to the arranging of seed on a dough piece for a bread dough product such as a bread roll, a puff pastry product such as a croissant, a quiche or a local bread speciality. The invention relates still more particularly to above stated products which are intended for baking (off) and are supplied for this purpose to a consumer optionally packed in frozen state.
2) Description of the Prior Art
The arranging of sprinkling material on dough pieces is per se known. The sprinkling material serves here as flavouring, as decoration or to impart a structure perceived as appetizing to a baked product to be manufactured.
It is known to arrange the sprinkling material on the dough piece by sprinkling the dough piece. This method of application has diverse drawbacks, however. The adhesion of the sprinkling material to the dough product is for instance often mediocre, so that a consumer finds the sprinkling material detached from the dough piece in a packaging, this having an adverse effect on the consumer perception of product quality.
Methods and devices for sprinkling dough pieces also provide insufficient possibilities for arranging the sprinkling material on an underside of the dough piece, and more particularly arranging sprinkling material on both an underside and upper side of a dough piece, since this usually requires turning the dough piece upside down. In the case of some dough pieces, and particularly in the case of an endless dough strip, this is a difficult operation, wherein both the dough piece and a sprinkled layer already arranged on one side can be damaged.
A known device for providing a dough piece with sprinkling material on the underside is adapted to separate from an endless dough strip individual dough pieces which are provided on an upper side with an adhesive and subsequently provided with a sprinkling material, the sprinkling material here being pressed on. The pieces then drop over a predetermined height in the device, wherein they must come to lie with the sprinkled sides facing downward. This process is impossible for endless dough pieces, but also for softer types of dough. In addition, the appropriate predetermined height differs per product type whereby the device has to be reset in each case. Nor can the exact location where the reversed products come to lie on the belt be properly determined, which can make further processing steps more difficult.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to at least partially obviate the above stated drawbacks, or to provide a usable alternative to known methods and devices.